Patient Portal Proxy Access
Patient Portal Proxy Access
Patient Portals and Your Medical Information
Memorial Health Care Systems (MHCS) will maintain all patient information, including information within a patient’s medical record, in a confidential manner to protect the patient’s right to confidentiality and comply with applicable state and federal laws and regulations, including HIPAA. MHCS is responsible for safeguarding the security and privacy of our patients’ medical information and ensuring patients have appropriate access to their records.
Proxy Access
Proxy access allows a person to use the patient portal to view another person’s information. The use of portal proxy access for a patient is intended to assist and support a patient in managing their medical care. A patient has the right to grant any designated adult, such as a spouse or medical decision caregiver, access to their portal account. Parents with a legal right to make important medical decisions on behalf of a minor and/or legal guardians may have full proxy status for the minor’s patient portal when the minor is age 12 or younger, and limited proxy status for the minor’s patient portal from the age of 13 until the minor’s 19th birthday.
Adults
As an MHCS patient, you may grant proxy access to your health portal account. An authorized proxy will be granted the ability to view and manage your portal account as if logged in as you. This may include personal or sensitive information, such as test results, treatments and medical opinions related to substance abuse, mental health, sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy.
Legal Representative of an Adult Patient
Access to an adult’s portal account may be granted if the proxy has documented legal authority to make health care decisions. Legal documentation may include legal guardianship of an incapacitated adult or healthcare power of attorney for a patient unable to make their own decisions.
Parent/Legally Authorized Representative (LAR) of a Minor Patient
The confidentiality of minors’ medical information is protected by a combination of Nebraska law. Minors have the right under state law to consent to some health care services without involvement of a parent or guardian. Thus, MHCS must ensure that information related to those services is not accessible to others, including a parent or legal guardian, via the patient portal. In order to align as a system, MHCS will only permit limited proxy access to any hospital or clinic patient portal of minors age 13 and older. For parents/guardians of a minor age 12 or younger, any proxy access will automatically be discontinued when the minor reaches their thirteenth birthday at which time restricted proxy access of a minor patient’s portal must be requested and approved. Full proxy access of all minors will be automatically discontinued when the minor reaches their nineteenth birthday.
- The parent or LAR will be granted full access to their child's Patient Portal account for a minor who is between the ages 0-12.
- On the minor's 13th birthday until their 19th birthday, the parent or LAR may be granted limited access to the child's Patient Portal account (e.g. access billing features, immunizations) with the written permission of the minor.
Obtaining Medical Information
Parents may request copies of their minor child's medical record (excluding information related to services the minor consented to on their own) by contacting the relevant department:
- Memorial Hospital: Health Information Management Department 402-646-4633
- Family Medical Centers: Medical Records Department 402-643-4800 ext 1133
Revoking Proxy Access
A provider may revoke or not authorize portal proxy access to a patient's record if they believe their access may interfere with the patient's treatment.
A patient can remove access directly from their portal account.
Portal Proxy access may be revoked when:
- the patient requests to revoke access of the portal proxy.
- a minor reaches the age of nineteen (automatic revocation).
- the legal relationship with the portal proxy has changed.
- there is a new Personal Representative.
- the provider determines that the portal proxy is not acting in the best interest of the patient.
MHCS also reserves the right to revoke patient portal proxy access:
- when the portal proxy violates the terms and conditions of the portal proxy access.
- at any time for any reason.
***Proxy access may also be directly assigned within MHCS patient portals to another individual by the patient or the patient's legally authorized representative, in which case form completion would not be applicable.***
